The Dilemma
by Samuel Curtis
Summary: What would Shinichi cope with him as a suspect? (New Chapter Up!)
1. Prologue: The Trial

"The Dillema"  
  
  
  
Prologue: The Trial  
  
Mr Umiyama left the racecourse, obviously not very pleased. Of course he's lost on bettings, but this is not the worst. He went into a disgrace by the magazine. They said he declined receiving his son from Canada (was living with his divorced mother), ignored his parents, and having numerous common law "significant others". He was no man of publicity before that, just a civil servant with the high pay of 580000 yens per month. It was a distress, but the problem is that he could argue not. It's not the problem that his position was at the downside, but...  
  
Just as he was clearing his thoughts two men, in complete Ku Klux Klan costume but all in black, approached him. And there was silence.  
  
The next place Mr Umiyama himself at was complete weird. It was a big room, somewhat like the Chinese yamen he read in his infancy: A large antique rosewood table and the accompanying seat, a board written words "VERITAS SOLUS" above it. In the two sides of the room there were two lines of guards, each holding a sword, eyeing him. The two men who approached him earlier was standing behind him, each holding a iron whip in hand. He was stripped to underwear, tied up at hands and feet.  
  
But he was not regressing to the past, however he knew. The building itself was no Chinese style, and there were electric spotlights. The end wall was not decorated by some painting, but coat-of-arms of some kind. The weirdest thing he found was the costumes of the people in this hall. All the guards were wearing the type of costume like that of the two men's, but the colour was different. Their garb was all red but two thin horizontal stripes around their upper arm.  
  
Then, suddenly, there came some music through the hall. The song was strange to him: it was low, pretty slow, and resembled some military music. All the costumed men raised up their weapons, did a strange type of salute, and sang:  
  
Quest for Love,  
Quest for Dream,  
Quest for All Truth!  
'Tis the aim we would strive for,  
secured in our minds!  
O Look, through tempests  
it would never change.  
At the time of distress  
we would hold the Truth,  
the Eternal Truth!  
  
As they were singing, a person approached the desk from its right. He was wearing a set of blue tuxedos, with a white shirt, a red bowtie, and covered with a blue hood.  
  
After the song has calmed down, the "judge" hit his wooden hammer on the table. "Mr Narona Umiyama, do you know you are guilty?" He asked brutally.  
  
"What am I guilty for? You say!" The terrified Umiyama showed off his last bit of bravery.  
  
"What are you guilty of, you should know best! May I not know the others, but at the very least you were the one who trashed his son to Canada, is you not, Mr. Umiyama?"  
  
"What's the wrong with this? I can do anything as I wish in here! This is no North Korea, is it?"  
  
"OK, the Law of the Hong Kong SAR of course do not outlaw this, of course", the "judge" added, aggressively, "And we do not mind those who find impossible to guard the child; but we DO mind a man who has 580000 yen per month, with little debt and a flat and a stable job to deny his son. This is the court of Truth and Justice, and even His Majesty the Emperor was none of our masters!"   
  
"How dare you!"  
  
"HOW DARE YOU to say 'How Dare you' to the Court? Up guards, give him a little punishment!"  
  
The two men in black behind Umiyama took up their whips, and have them unleashed on Mr Umiyama's back.  
  
There were no comments from Mr Umiyama, if not for the instinct yelling and unsuccessful attempts to escape.  
  
"And, I shall say, it would be pure ignorance for me to ignore the other deeds of yours... For example, lying to your parents so that you need not to see them?"  
  
"Please... please do not believe what the magazines say..."  
  
"I don't want to, but I've seeked permission from your relatives..."  
  
Umiyama weeps. "Please, sir..., please forgive me..."  
  
"Mr. Umiyama, we regard correcting one's fault as valuable... I would release you to see if you can turn a new leaf. But for the actions you've done, you still deserve some whips..." the "judge" said, "I'll send people to see if you're doing well. IF you're doing bad, I must say, YOU HAVE TO SEE ME IN HERE AGAIN AND HAVE MORE SERIOUS PUNISHMENTS!" His sound is still majestic.  
  
The black men whipped Umiyama for another two minutes, and he passed out....  
  
....the next place he found himself at was the center of Ginzo, with clothes on.  
  
He went to nearest police ststion.  
  
  
*********************************  
  
(I would not be writing this anymore before the 22th... Exams are coming...)  
(Please, place comments... I need a lot of them... Even for those who've previewed this...) 


	2. Chapter 1 The Declaration of War

I don¡¦t think I have the need to put any disclaimer¡Xit would be no different with any other fanfictions here.

Of course, please read and review!

******

The Dilemma

Chapter 1 ¡V The Declaration of War

Actually, the midnight shift was hell for all report room "receptionists" in any police station: they wanted to sleep, and they had reason to -- who would actually go into the police station at THIS hour? Whoever found himself in the situation needed would certainly phone 119, not spending their precious time rushing to the station. This is even truer in such a place like Ginza, so when Naroru Umiyama limped through the report room, in the great pain from all the whippings. The thing that actually caught their attention is the sound of a person fell on to the floor -- Umiyama of course.

The two police officers' then half-slept state came to an abrupt end and they rushed out to see the one who's fell on the floor, and were puzzled why the one on the floor was Umiyama. Yes, they knew all about the recent incidents between him, his ex-wife and their little kid, but they just couldn't figure out why he passed out here. When they observed him more carefully, they found that he was beaten up. Anyway, he needs to be sent to the hospital immediately, so they called all the colleagues and the ambulance.

The hospital, of course, wasn't too surprised when the police arrived and asked for the reception desk to see Naroru Umiyama. What came as a surprise was that an officer of rank like Inspector Jyuzo Megure came here, together with his subordinates Takagi. Who came and lead him above was a certain Dr Onto. 

"Good morning Inspector Megure."

"So as you, Doctor -- ?"

"Doctor Takashi Onto. You are asking for... Mr. Naroru Umiyama?"

"Yes. So where is he?"

"Well, he's at the third floor. Would you mind following me to the elevator?"

"Well... please."

In the stainless steel elevator.

"And now how's him?"

"He hasn't come round yet; but he should regain consciousness anytime today. Actually what you do need to concern was that he was seriously beaten up, or, for a more accurate word, whipped."

"What? People got whipped up in the 21st century? And given this is Japan? What's more of that?"

Before long they were in the surgery ward, in front of Umiyama's bed.

In front of Megure and Takagi was obvious a person in great agony -- if not now. Umiyama had to lay backside up, since his back was covered with whip streaks from all directions, and it was quite clear that he had been whipped in a totally violent manner, to the degree that he didn't only got bruised, there had been bleeding from some of these whip streaks. It was quite a miracle that his spine wasn't broken, given how violent would the attack be.

"As you can see, his backside has been heavily beaten by a whip. The good news is that his injuries are superficial; there's nothing to worry given there are no infections." Dr Onto said.

"Die or not, it's something so gruesome and barbarian..." Megure thought, "And in Japan, in the beginning of the 21st century?" 

Megure pulled Takagi aside. "Takagi-kun?"

"Yes?"

"The more gruesome he had beaten, the sticker the case is."

"..." Takagi, as always, still can't quite wear off the astonishment yet.

"I think you've read a lot about this Naroru Umiyama in tabloids, did you?"

"Just a bit..."

"We now have two trails: his job; and of course his recent problem of his son..."

"I think we've better follow the second trail, Megure-keibu. If the yakuza were doing this, why didn't they get rid of him instead?"

"Point taken. Yes, this is reverage, or, for a better word, punishment..."

Dr Onto came to the two officers. "Are there anything more of help?"

"There's nothing for now, but it's better to keep in touch. Thanks Dr Onto."

"You're welcome; actually who else should I contact if a personality has got beaten up like that? The forensic report should be coming in a half an hour... or you may have a wait at the cafeteria? You may have the lunch there also. "

Just when Megure and Takagi started to leave the ward, a hospital worker came running towards his direction...

"Dr. Onto! Inspector Megure!"

"What's making you in such a hurry?"

"The forensic report is out. Since I've heard Megure-keibu is here, so I rushed a bit..."

Megure saw there is something in addition to the usual manila bag holding the report.

"What's this?"

"This... This is something I found in the pocket of the shirt he was wearing when he was admitted..."

Megure took it. It is actually an envelope in fancy paper, folded lengthwise, with the words "To whom it may concern" on it. Megure opened the sealed envelope and took out the letter inside. The more he read, the more he got tense... Takagi noticed his master is actually terrified, but Megure just tried to show his poker face...

"Takagi-kun, you ought to read this."

And Takagi read the letter, also printed on fancy paper:

The Independent Court of Truth and Justice   
  
To whom it may concern,   
  
Naroru Umiyama has been tried in the Court and found guilty of: 

1. Alienation of his first and wife;

2. Unwillingness to take his responsibility to take care of his son;

3. Multiple Common Law marriages, and 

4. Neglect of parents 

  
and has accordingly punished by flogging. 

The Independent Court of Truth and Justice (Seal) 

On the bottom of the letter printed, "The court trying any crime not in the Law."

And the second page is actually another letter, printed on identical letter. It read:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY, on the first conference in 14th July, 2001:

The INDEPENDENT COURT OF TRUTH AND JUSTICE is established, so as to:

Try and duly punish persons acting unethically, however not duly provided by the Law of Japan, civil or criminal, which would damage the overall morality and safety of Japan; 

In order to achieve the above, the Court is unilaterally declare its rights to the following, without the consent of the Japanese government: 

1 To arrest, question, try and imprison any person as needed by the court; 

2 To punish the persons as described in (1), if tried to be guilty, in any way deemed suitable, capital punishment included; 

3 To confiscate properties owned by the persons described in (2), if needed;

4 To keep surveillance of

4.1 any person in Japan; and

4.2 any Japanese citizen in any country.

Friends and Protectors of Truth and Justice,

Tokyo

14th July, 2001.

******

OK, the prologue was sent to the Conan ml on 1 June 2001, and Chapter 1? 10 October 2002. I bet it¡¦s the longest time gap between two chapters in the fanfiction history¡K

You won¡¦t see any Conan characters directly in Chapter 2, if I can drop a hint.


	3. Chapter 2: The Blue Tuxedo and the Red B...

The Dilemma  
  
Chapter 2: The Blue Tuxedo and the Red Bowtie  
  
Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
[8:25 Class 3B, Teitan High School]  
  
The Teitan High, for those who don't know, is for the rich kids. But it doesn't mean Class 2B is any different from any other high school classes.   
  
Even it's close to school time, our teens are still busy chatting with one another or rushing (if not copying) to get their homework done. But Ran Mouri, Karate champion and the very publicized girlfriend (even she didn't accept such a claim) of that "geeky" detective (Even he has been Teitan's top footballer, he has been considered such...) Shinichi Kudo's boyfriend, was still looking anxoiusly at Shinichi's empty seat.  
  
*Where had Shinichi just been...*  
  
He and She always goes to school together, too much as a habit that their classmates has dubbed them as a married couple.  
  
flashback at 7:52  
  
Ran went into the 2B classroom alone. She found nobody at the Kudo's at the usual time and she wasn't overly surprised; Shinichi sometime go to school early to polish his soccer skills from getting himself rusty, even he wasn't a member of Teitan's football team as of the past. Anyway, he would join Ran at the soccer field. However, he wasn't found at the high school's soccer field. She was now all puzzled.  
  
The first boy who came to her snickered. "Oh, your husband's just dumped you, eh, Mrs Kudo?"  
  
Ran flushed, was just to deny, "No, Shinichi's not even my boyfriend!"  
  
Then she just got puzzled, "... and I don't know where he was..."  
  
And at that point the other boys in 2B snickered at her from their seats, thinking at possible reasons of why Shinichi dumped Ran...  
  
Ran got all blushed and sulked at them.  
  
/flashback  
  
She is reasonable to be anxious, if not totally worried. She parted him at Tropical Land and saw him just back premanently after a whole year, and to the mystery to her, who was the little kid called Conan who was living with hers during the time?  
  
To her mystery, also, is how can he finish Grade 8 courses during his disappearence?  
  
On issues with Shinichi, her best friend Sonoko Suzuki cannot be of any help.  
  
[8:25 Class 3B, Ehuta High School]  
  
Kaito Kuroba, the clown, entertainer and magician of the class, also as known as Kid the Phantom Thief at night, snickered again on reports of his catch on the newspaper... Well, not just snickered, but actually, grinned at his full capacity, even he got nothing about the Pandoras at this catch again, since it was exceptionally easy... then he stared at the page next to it.   
  
It was about that mysterious beating case that was all over the media today, exceptially the tabiolds-- Naroru Umiyama was who they've been after these days, and now such an extraordinary thing happened on him? It wasn't only the tabiolds that are chasing on this case, legitimate, serious papers like the Yomiuri are having full-page coverage on it -- what's more serious than a bunch human-flogging people who decleared to be outside government control?  
  
*No wonder there are so few cops chasing me last night... And now everyone who're of my real threat are playing traunt to join their masters, huh?*  
  
Saguru Hakuba's seat was empty for the day.  
  
[8:25 MPD]  
  
*Yawnnnnnn*  
  
Shinichi Kudo was awake all the night, listening to Inspector Megure briefing, (well, not briefing to be exact, since Megure actually told him everything down to the most intimate details) inspecting photo's of Umiyama's wound and that document found on his body, and trying to get himself bound to some leads, but of no avail -- there are too few things for him to inspect, and photos aren't the best thing to get inspected.   
  
And the document? Printed on commercially available paper with computer, no signatures-- as expected, no criminal would leak themselves to the police.  
  
Forsenics can of course take some fibre samples, but it is actually of no use if there are no suspects to be talked of -- it seemed a lead might be at Umiyama's ex-wife's side, since they has openly sounded their with Umiyama's actions since their kid's case happened.  
  
*The problem is, they might have a motive to flog Umiyama, and why he was found in Ginza, the last place to conceal a crime?*  
  
*Then the document. It is the most intimidating document to the whole of Japan, and if what they want is Umiyama, there's no need for them to write as a formal piece of this, and clearly need not to make themselves a national case, in effect waging a war with the whole of Japan... Maybe they it's just a trick to divert the police, but...*  
  
*The bottom line is that this case must have been organized, not of some impulse gone out of control. In most of the probaility, there are accompanice...*  
  
He was first called by Megure the evening previous.  
  
flashback at 6:15pm the previous evening, Kudo's  
  
Shinichi was going out in the most formal of his clothes -- blue tuxedos and red bowtie that is -- since his parents are coming back from the US, and her mother Yukiko, ex-star, always insisted his son to wear properly in all cases. Of course he more or less lent a deaf ear on this when she was away, but he just cannot predict the consequences when she saw he wearing a casual suit at the airport...  
  
Then the phone rang.  
  
"Hello Kudo-kun?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I think you know what've happened today Kudo-kun?"  
  
"Umiyama being flogged?"  
  
"Yes. We might have a few leads, but now we have a letter too shocking for anyone to read; a copy should have now reach the Prime Minister's."  
  
"Needless to say... see you later!"  
  
/flashback  
  
And so the last fourteen and one-sixth hours he was at the side of his respected pal Inspector Megure -- not nearly as bright police officer than personalities like Shiratori of course, but Megure is simply a good man to work with, without too much hassle to follow.   
  
Ring-Ring!  
  
"Moshi-moshi?"  
  
Needless to say, Megure, being the second only to Sergrent Matsumoto in the First Team of Criminal Investigations in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, is inheritently toi have many phone calls. But this phone call in different. The special time frame considered. Shinichi could not guess too much from what Megure said, but he saw Megure got a sudden relief. This is nothing of normalcy, given all the tension over the Umiyama case. Anyway, he thought, it wouyld probably be up to National Security Levels!  
  
*It's gotta be good.*  
  
After Megure put down the phone, just before Shinichi went on asking, he proclaimed, "Our Mr. Naroru Umiyama is now considered awake by the hospital. Are you going?"  
  
"Of course, Megure-keibu!"  
  
"It's the best thing we need-- at least at this stage you need to haave the access to all materials-- in any rate, I trust you more than that son of the Superintendents's..."  
  
"You mean Hakuba Saguru-san's here?"  
  
"The bigwigs decided this is a national security case and needed to be solved in a few days... even Saguru-kun's not really our men-- he's rather with Nakamori's Team 2 dealing with the Kid but had dealt with some of our cases sometimes."  
  
"Well, I've..."  
  
"We gotta go now. I will ask Takagi-kun to go with us."  
  
[Half an hour later, in the hospital lobby.]  
  
Megure, Shinichi and Takagi appeared at the front desk, and Megure showed the receptionist his identification.  
  
"So you are Inspector Jyuzo Megure from the MPD? I will call Dr.Onto down right now." the recptionist replied politly.  
  
"Dr.Onto, Megure-keibu?" Shinichi asked.  
  
"Yes, Shinichi-kun. The doctor who phoned me a while ago and actually he was with me checking out with Mr. Umiyama yesterday."  
  
"Oh."  
  
And Dr. Onto came out from the lift.  
  
"Welcome again Inspector Megure." he greeted.  
  
"Same here. So how's the condition of our witness now?"  
  
"As I've said, he regained consciousness but..."  
  
"But what?"  
  
"He became very hysterical, and clearly thought everyone else is going to hurt him and actuaally we have to move him to his own ward and gave him shots of sedatives to clam him down a bit."  
  
"Which is not very surprising, since he DID have trauma..."  
  
"I think it won't any suitable to ask for his testinomy now. However, looking into his room through the glass and see how he was now is still allowed. I will send you the psychologist's report later this week."  
  
"Anyway, bring us to him then.'  
  
"I will lead you."  
  
[5 minutes later, outside Umiyama's room]  
  
"Mr. Umiyama's now residing here. As I've said, he's still too unstable emotionally to accept any interviews..." Dr Onto told the trio from the MPD.  
  
"Dr. Onto, did he always like that since he regained consciousness, hiding at one end of the bed and shivering?" Shinichi asked the doctor.  
  
"He is...?"  
  
"I think you should have known him already; high school detective Shinichi Kudo-kun. I brought him to help us investigating this case." Megure answered.  
  
"Welcome Kudo-kun..."  
  
Just as Dr. Onto is going to shake hands with Shinichi, our patient changed his face from fear to fury, then he rose up astern, rushing towards the door of the ward, shouting "Reverge!" all over the way, as if his physical injury has all gone to sky high. Umiyama has always been strongly built, and the two attending nurses were no match to him, and were both thrown off on the floor in one hand.  
  
He banged the door open, and went up grabbing Shinichi's shoulders...  
  
"Reverge you judge! Regerge!" and raised his fist towards Shinichi...  
  
[End of Chapter 2]  
  
Author's note: I'm not really into creative writing (I like more factual essays), and I'm so much of a procrastinator... I can't blame anything or anyone about writing a chapter per year.  
  
Just by reviewing my plot with that of Noah's Ark in Movie 6, I thought I was partly similar to its/his thought... (No, NOT exactly the same...)  
  
Comments are always welcome.  
  
Samuel Curtis, Shinichian and Hirokian. 


End file.
